How to Bewitch a Ghost Hunter
by Paintedwings77
Summary: Evie life is finally on track. She has a decent job in NYC, a nice apartment, a couple roommates and a quirky best friend. Until one night she has a strange encounter with a ghost with an ominous message for her. Looking for answers she turns to the internet where she meets Nick. A sinfully attractive ghost hunter who insists she is more than just a regular person. GA Nick/OC


_**NOTE:**_

_**I first wrote this chapter just because it was an idea in my head. Partly because there are so few Nick stories out there. But after some thought and consideration I thought this would make an excellent book 2 to my first book, Waking up Hitched in Vegas. Which is a story about Zak. I thought I could make a series.**_

_**Although Zak's story is not yet finished, but when it will be this will be the second book to my series.**_

_**So why am I posting this now you ask? Mostly because I want to see if there is even any interest out there for this story. Is it even worth writing? **_

_**If everyone likes then I shall continue it, after Waking up Hitched, and you will get to see some of Zak, Ana and Keane in this story, but they won't be the main focus. **_

_**So yes, this chapter is merely for feedback, so fire away! **_

* * *

**How to Bewitch a Ghost Hunter**

It's not every day that you see a ghost, but you sure do remember that day when it does happen to you. It imprints in your mind.

I was alone in my classroom. It was a little after nine pm and I was finishing up grading the last of my tenth grade class exam. Using my IPhone and my favorite music app I blasted Pink in my ear buds. Everyone had left hours ago, even the janitors were long gone, but it was not unusual for me to stay so late. I lived with two roommates and this was the quietest place to get any work done.

I usually did not work alone though, Sophie typically stayed late as well but she was MIA for the evening. My best friend and English wiz, Sophie, was out on a date. I had come to New York City a couple of years ago after hearing of the history teaching position opening up at Notre-Dame private school. Everyone in my small hometown of Washington had advised me against it, that moving across the country to a big city was just foolish, but I was determined that I would not stay in the tiny town of Bridgewater forever. When I got this teaching job it put me one step closer to my dream.

As I finished up the last paper on the French civil war I stacked everything neatly on my desk and with a long stretch I stood and made my way to the teacher's lounge where I had left my jacket. Notre-Dame was a large school for both boys and girls, but it had originally been a school only for girl's years ago. I enjoyed it well enough, the students here were eager to learn and the staff was generally pleasant to be around.

As I got to the first floor teachers lounge, which was located right next to the office and the front doors. I turned the ceiling light on, only to notice that the ornate hanging light had two bulbs burnt out. Deciding I should probably change them because if I waited until tomorrow to tell the janitor I would probably have forgotten. In the attempted to search for a light bulb I went to sort through the "if it doesn't have a home, put it in here" box when I heard the front door open. Odd—I could've sworn it was locked from the inside and no one could enter unless they had a key.

-"Anyone there?" I yelled.

I didn't hear the door closing, so I put Pink on mute and took my ear buds out. I strolled out to see who had walked into the school. The streetlamps reflected through the school's large windows, the glare was so intense, I had to remind myself they were just lights and not some alien spacecraft come to whisk me away.

The hallway was empty.

Considering the possibility that someone might be hiding, I swallowed the dread climbing up my throat. Glancing around, I searched for something to protect myself with in case the said breaker-and-enterer decided to attack. My eyes rested on the broom standing not far from the office door.

The broom was maybe two steps from me. That might not sound like much, but my fear had me by the ankles and wouldn't let go.

_Evie, get the damned broom._

Thank God for that little internal voice of sensibility that always seems to visit at just the right time. Freeing my feet from the fear tar, I grabbed the broom and neared the counter which displayed some of the student's art. It was a good place for someone to hide—well, really, the only place to hide. The office doors were locked and no one would have had the time to run to one of the classrooms.

I jammed the broom over the glass counter and swept vigorously. Nothing.

The hairs on my neck stood to attention as a shiver of unease coursed through me. I couldn't shake the feeling and after deciding no one was in the room, I persuaded myself it must have been kids. But kids or not, I would have heard the door close. I didn't discard the broom though. Suddenly as if winter had crept into the room, a chill swept up the back of my neck. For some unknown reason, I glanced up and there he was, floating a foot or so above me.

Stunned, I took a step back, my heart beating so hard that I thought it would leap out of my chest.

-"Holy shit."

The ghost drifted toward me until he and I were eye level. I wasn't sure if I wanted to run or bat at him with the broom. Fear cemented me in place, and I did neither, just stood gaping at him. Even though I was terrified my brain was surprisingly focus. I started to go over every fact I knew about ghosts: they had unfinished business, they were stuck on a different plane of existence, they were here to tell us something, and most importantly, they were just energy. Energy couldn't hurt me ... unless they were demonic ... then I was in serious trouble.

I tried to regulate my heartbeat and breathe normally, I didn't want to show any fear. I returned my gaze to the ectoplasm before me. There was no emotion on his face; he just watched me as if waiting for me to come to my senses.

-"Hello," I said, thinking how stupid I sounded—treating him like every Tom, Dick or Harry who ventured through the school doors. Then I felt stupid that I felt stupid—what was wrong with greeting a ghost? Even the dead deserve standard propriety.

He wavered a bit, as if he was an old TV and the station was not coming in very well, but he still didn't say anything. He was young, maybe in his twenties. His double-breasted suit looked like it was right out from the 1930s if I had to guess. His hair was on the blond side, sort of an ash blond. It was hard to tell because he was standing, well ... no floating, in front of a wooden door that showed through him. Wooden door or not, his face was broad, and he had a crooked nose—maybe it'd been broken in a fight. He was a good-looking ghost as far as ghosts go … not that I would know if ghost were supposed to be handsome or not, this was a first for me.

-"Can you speak?" I asked, still in disbelief that I was attempting to converse with the dead.

Well, I never thought I would ever see a full body apparition. But he still said nothing, so I decided to continue my line of questioning.

-"Do you have a message from someone?"

He shook his head.

-"No."

His voice sounded like someone talking underwater. Hmm. Well, I imagined he wasn't here catch a class. Maybe he was passing through? Going toward the light? Come to haunt the school?

-"Are you on your way somewhere?" I had so many questions for this spirit but didn't know where to start, so all the stupid ones came out first.

-"I was sent here," he finally said and he gave me a smile.

Yeah, not a bad looking ghost.

-"Who sent you?"

It seemed the logical thing to ask. He said nothing and like that, vanished, leaving me to wonder if I had something bad to eat at lunch or if someone drugged my food.

**oOo**

-"So he was see-through?"

-"Have you seen him before?"

I looked from Sophie to Richard and wondered who I should answer first.

-"No, and no." I took a sip of my tea and checked the time on my phone. I had a class to teach in ten minutes and I didn't want to be late.

Sophie nodded and licked her thumb to turn the page to her fashion magazine.

-"I heard that this school is haunted for years." Sophie continued.

-"Weren't you scared?" Richard asked as he pushed his small glasses up his nose.

-"Not really. I just wish he would have answered more questions." I mumbled disappointed.

-"Well maybe next time." Sophie grinned.

-"If I had not been alone, maybe he wouldn't have showed up at all."

-"Hey, one of us has to date." She replied sassily, knowing full well that I had not been on a date in over six months.

An image of my last date popped into my head like a bomb. Let's just say I will never try the Internet dating route again. It wasn't that the guy had been bad looking—he'd looked like his photo, but what I hadn't been betting on was that he'd get wasted and proceed to tell me how he was separated from his wife and had three kids. Not even divorced! Yeah, that hadn't been on his profile.

-"Let's not get into this again…"

-"Evie, you need to get out. You're almost thirty-four…"

-"You sound like my mother ..."

-"Whatever…you're going to end up old and alone. You're way too pretty, and you have such a great personality, you can't end up like that. Don't let one bad date ruin it." Her voice reached a crescendo. Sophie had a tendency towards the dramatic.

-"I've had a string of bad dates, Soph."

-"Hey!" Richard voiced, looking up from his giant book.

-"I wasn't counting you, silly." I quickly said, giving him a bright smile.

He nodded but his shoulders had droop slightly as he shut his book.

-"I have class." He left quickly.

I sighed and mentally slapped myself for my insensitivity. Richard and I had gone out a few times, and he was a nice guy, but I just had not felt the sparks with him ... it was more like going out with your brother. I didn't feel anything romantic for him.

-"Poor Richard." Sophie sighed. "You should give him another chance."

I ignored Sophie. I didn't know what else to say—I was terminally single. It came down to the fact that I'd rather spend time with my cat rather than face another stream of losers. As for being attractive, Sophie insisted I was pretty, but I wasn't convinced. It's one thing when your best friend says you're pretty, but it's entirely different when a man says it. And I couldn't remember the last time a man had said it.

I caught my reflection in the glass of the desk and studied myself while Sophie rambled on about all the reasons I should be dating. I supposed my face was pleasant enough—a pert nose, very dark green eyes, making them appear almost forest green and plump lips. A spattering of very light freckles across the bridge of my nose among my pale skin, and my shoulder length blond hair always finding itself drawn into a ponytail. Head-turning doubtful, girl-next-door probable.

As for Sophie, she didn't look like me at all. For one thing, she's pretty tall and leggy, about five-nine, four inches taller than I am. She had dark hair the color of mahogany, blue eyes and pinkish cheeks. She was classically pretty—like cameo pretty. She was rail skinny and had just enough boobs to make all her clothing look perfect on her frame. I had a tendency to gain weight if I ate too much, I had a definite butt, and the twins are pretty ample as well. Maybe that made me sound like I was fat—I wasn't ... Well I could stand to lose twenty pounds.

Thankfully it was time for me to get to class. I grabbed my things and said goodbye to Sophie.

-"Maybe you should contact those guys that hunt for ghost." Sophie said suddenly before I left.

-"Huh?" I turned towards her.

-"Those three hot guys on TV that hunt ghost, they could find out what that ghost wanted from you."

I shrugged at the ridiculous idea and quickly left.

Class went by quickly. I loved teaching history. I had always had a passion for it, so when it came time to go to college it seemed like the best thing to study. But my history fondness soon turned to a dark subject. The myths and occult side of it. I was forever fascinated with old ghost stories and sightings. From old wife's tales of vampires and werewolves to old haunted cemeteries. I loved it all. Of course it was nothing I could teach but when I started a lecture I often found myself rambling on the old tales that were shared about whatever era we were covering.

Maybe my obsession had started when I was young ... You see I am very different. I can see auras. I have been able to since before I can remember. Every person has an aura. It changes from person to person, but generally a healthy person's aura was pinkish or violet. Someone who was ill had an aura that was yellowish or orange. It was just a small smoky like cloud that surrounded a person. But I had always seen it. Maybe my obsession was because I was hoping to find some answers as to what exactly I was...

**oOo**

By the time next week rolled around, I hadn't had much of a busy week. No more visits from ghosts, spirits, or whatever the PC term is for them. It was the week before Thanksgiving and I didn't overload my students with homework, mostly because I didn't want to be stuck correcting a bunch of papers.

It was once again that time of day where I had a couple of free periods. I should be getting things ready for what to teach after we came back from Thanksgiving break but I couldn't bring myself to focus. I had too much on my mind. The ghost encounter had really shaken me. Although I had studied everything I could on ghost and knew probably more than any one person should, I had never actually gone out and looked for a ghost.

As I entered the teacher's lounge the table was littered with photos that Sophie was arranging around as if they were puzzle pieces. I walked up behind her, only too pleased to find an outlet for my anxiety. The photo in the middle caught my attention first. It was a landscape of the Malibu coastline, the intense blue of the ocean mirrored by the sky and interrupted only by the green of the hillside.

-"Wow, that's a great one, Soph." I picked the photo up. "Can you frame it? I'd love to hang it in my classroom."

-"Sure." She nodded and continued inspecting her photos, as if trying to find a fault in the angle or maybe the subject.

Sophie had aspirations of being a photographer and she had the eye for it. I admired her artistic ability—I, myself, hadn't been in line when God was handing out creativity. I sat next to her with a sigh and she gave me a worried glance.

-"Are you still worrying about that ghost?"

-"I just don't understand, what did he mean by he was sent here?" I furrowed my brow.

-"I have no idea. Did you try contacting those guys?"

-"No."

Sophie gave me an annoyed look. She grabbed her phone and after a few moments she thrust it in my hands.

-"That is the website; they have a message board, just post and see if they respond."

I looked down at the screen; the site was a typical website with a very big forum full of posts, mostly from fan girls declaring their love for these guys. I glanced up at Sophie.

-"Seriously? No one is going to read this post except for their fan clubs."

-"Just post!"

-"How do you even know about this thing?"

I might have been knowledgeable about ghosts and history but I knew nothing about what was on TV these days. I rarely even watched the tube. Did they still call it that? I found more enjoyment in reading a good old research book, or hanging out with my roommates.

-"The locations they investigate are sometimes quite beautiful; I sometime watch the show to get some ideas on where I can take pictures next." She casually shrugged but I somehow suspected that she might have been a secret fan girl.

With a sigh I signed up on this website that claimed that one of the guys from Ghost Adventures would read each post every month. After creating a username I posted my experience and asked what I could do to find out what this ghost wanted. I pressed the send button and closed the website. I really did not expect anything to come of this.

* * *

-"Why the fuck do I have to go through these damn post?" Nick moaned like a spoiled child.

-"Because I did it last month, and Aaron did it the month before that. Now it's your turn." Zak pushed the laptop in Nick's direction.

-"Yes, but when you did it, I had to help you, so I think we should at least split the work." Nick pushed the laptop back towards Zak.

-"It's not my fault I had a bad cold and couldn't finish." Zak pushed the laptop again across the glass table. He then quickly got up and sauntered over to his living room, where Aaron was playing on the gaming system.

Nick sighed.

-"Whose fucking idea was this website anyway?" Nick grumbled.

Aaron peaked up from the couch at the same time Zak turned around.

-"Yours!" They both said at the same time.

Nick stuck up his middle finger at both his friends who chuckled at his annoyance. He briefly wondered why he put up with those two assholes but he then quickly reminded himself that they were more than just his coworkers, they were also his friend and had stuck by him through everything life had thrown at him the last few years. He really couldn't ask for any better friends, even if he didn't get to see them except when they went on investigations or on weekends like this, when they had some editing to do.

Nick lived in Boston, but he had lived in Las Vegas for a few years until his now estranged wife wanted to move to Boston where her family was from. But Nick was starting to reconsider coming back to Vegas. It would be easier to get work done and he really had no reasons to stay in Boston anymore. Nick had been married for six years. The first three years and half had been ... well great. But as time passed he and Jennifer had started to drift apart. She blamed his work, and wanted him to quit ghost hunting. When he refused she went and found comfort with another man when he was away on business. He had suspected she was up to something but he never had any proof until he came home early from an investigation ten months ago, he had an awful case of the flu and just wanted to crawl into bed.

But instead he had found another man in his bed and he had spent the rest of that week moving out of their spacious apartment, instead of nursing his cold. They were now in the process of a divorce but she was making everything difficult. She wanted outrageous alimony support and she refused to let him see their seven year old daughter, Emma.

Pushing aside the sad state of affairs of his life he got to work on reading the forum that Billy had set up for their show. They had come up with the idea of the website after a particularly sad meeting with the producers of their show, Ghost Adventures. The top executors of the Travel channel were started to get worried that the guys were going to run out of interesting locations they could investigate. Even though there were thousands of locations to hunt at, the producers only wanted exciting locations and let's face it, not every location turned out as planned.

Sometimes the ghost activity just didn't happen, and sometimes the ghost activity was just a cat in the alley and people who were easily spooked. So Billy had come up with the idea of having fans of the show tell them about haunted locations, like private homes, which they did not often investigate, and other places they might not have heard of.

The forums were pretty successful. They had gotten a few awesome locations from some of the fans out there. But there was also a lot of fake hauntings being reported and even more posts on just how much they loved the guys. It was a very tedious job to go through all the thousands of posts and finding the ones that reported locations and those that just are messing around. It was agreed that every month one of them would go through the posts and find what was worth looking into and what wasn't. This month, it was Nick's turn.

He got to work and started to read through the posts. Most of them were love declarations to Zak. Poor guy had more teenage girls after him then one man would want.

After a couple of hours, Nick had found only three posts that were worth looking into. He had emailed the people asking them for more information and phone numbers so he could call them. He was getting ready to take a small break, right after this last post from someone called Evie78. He clicked on the post and read the short message.

_Hi,  
I work at a school in NYC and I saw a ghost. But that is not the reason I am posting this message. I am hoping that someone can help me decipher the cryptic message this ghost told me. It was a young man, I am sure I never knew him, but he told me that he was sent to me. That was all he said. The message although slightly unnerving has me wondering who is trying to get in contact with me. I sure hope someone with more experience can help me out.  
Evie._

Nick frowned at the strange post. It was very unusual, for many reasons, but the one that really stuck out at him was that this woman was not freaked out at all that she saw a full apparition of a ghost, even after it spoke to her. Even he, an experience ghost hunter, would absolutely without a doubt be slightly overwhelmed if he would have seen a ghost appear in front of him, and speak to him.

Unsure if this post was just a joke or not he decided to email this Evie person asking for her number. He found that most fake reports never called so it was a good way to weed out the posts that were just seeking attention and the real ones.

Satisfied with his work, Nick shut the laptop down to go join his friends in playing the PlayStation for the few hours before he had to catch his flight back to Boston. He didn't tell Zak and Aaron about the strange post because he was very positive that he would never get any sort of response back.


End file.
